Data Release for Holocene Paleohydrology from alpine lake sediment, Emerald Lake, Wasatch Plateau of central Utah, USA

Publication Date

2023-01-09

Start Date

2009

End Date

2019

Anderson, L., and Pelltier, R., 2023, Data Release for Holocene paleohydrology from alpine lake sediment, Emerald Lake, Wasatch Plateau of central Utah, USA: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9CZFVNJ.

Type: Related Primary Publication

This study presents a new lake carbonate d18O paleoclimate record for the Holocene from Emerald Lake in central Utah. At 3090 m elevation, the headwater lake is on the summit of the Wasatch Plateau, which delineates the border between the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau regions. The location of Emerald Lake on the western boundary of the UCB provides a new opportunity to evaluate sub-regional snow and drought patterns within the watershed. The data show that the multi-decadal scale d18O record (~30-year average resolution) from Emerald Lake reflect changes in precipitation and evaporation by utilizing a modern lake d18O interpretive framework, and multiproxy sediment variations provide evidence for changes in lake level. Comparison with records from the eastern Great Basin and Northern Rockies approximates the geographic scale of synoptic climate patterns related to jet stream and North American Monsoon dynamics. The Wasatch Plateau has a long history of damaging landslides, including mass movement that has evidently altered the western margin of Emerald Lake. The radiocarbon-based chronology of the Emerald Lake sedimentary record provides accurate timing for a landslide event and allows evaluation of its occurrence within the context of the paleoclimatic record. csv files of: Emerald Lake core D radiocarbon ages (Table 1 in publication), Emerald Lake aqueous geochemistry and water column measurements (Table 2 in publication), Utah High Plateau surface water d18O, d2H and d-excess (Table S1 in publication), Emerald Lake core A sediment core data: density, % water, total carbon (TC) and total inorganic carbon (TIC), Emerald Lake core D sediment core data: density, % water, magnetic susceptibility, total carbon (TC) and total inorganic carbon (TIC), mineralogy by x-ray diffraction (xrd), carbonate stable isotopes (carbon and oxygen), Emerald Lake water column data.

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